PROFILES: Who is Mathew Mugabi and James Kizza, the two new Commissioners at Uganda Revenue Authority? On May 29th 2020, two URA Commissioners, Dicksons Kateshumbwa (Domestic Taxes) and Henry Martin Saka (Tax Investigations) alongside, Silajji Kanyesigye the Assistant Commissioner, Large Taxpayer Office and Samuel Kahima resigned their jobs. Following the resignations, Mukiibi Patrick, previously, the Commissioner Corporate Services, became the Commissioner Domestic Taxes. Mrs. Patience T. Rubagumya (Commissioner Legal Services and Board Affairs); Herbert Rusoke (Commissioner Internal Audit and Compliance) and Abel Kagumire (Acting Commissioner Customs) retained their jobs. However, two Assistant Commissioners- Mathew Mugabi previously, the Assistant Commissioner in charge of Tax Investigations was promoted to Acting Commissioner Tax Investigations. James Kizza, formerly the Assistant Commissioner Information Technology was also promoted to Acting Commissioner Corporate Services. This is what know about Mathew Mugabi and James Kizza, the two new Commissioners.

James Kizza is an experienced Information Technology professional, who has worked at URA for 27 years, rising to the rank of Assistant Commissioner in charge of IT, from whence he was appointed to become the Acting Commissioner Corporate Services.

The Corporate Services Department, oversees the divisions of Finance, Human Resource, Administration and IT.

He joined URA in 1993 as a Revenue Officer and by April 2005 he had risen through the ranks to become a Senior Principal Revenue Officer – IT Department in the Development Division. In this role, he led the architecting and design of business applications in line with relevant tax laws, manuals and departmental guidelines.

In April 2005, he was promoted to become, Manager Software Engineering in the Corporate Services Department IT Division and in February 2011, he earned the Assistant Commissioner Information Technology role, still in the Corporate Services Department’s IT Division. It is from here that he has been promoted to Acting Commissioner, Corporate Services.

Kizza has been a key resource in URA’s digitisation agenda, and as Assistant Commissioner, IT, he has basically been the revenue body’s Chief Technical Officer (CTO) and is credited for URA’s attainment of 96 percent digitisation.  He has created and led one of the best support teams in East Africa that have been behind URA’s line of business applications eTAX, ASYCUDA World and the Single Customs Territory initiatives. This capacity has leveraged by the counterparts in within the country and UNCTAD to resolve challenges in countries where similar installations have been deployed.

For this feat, he was in November 2019 feted with the CIO of the Year Award 2019 in Nairobi Kenya. The 2019 East Africa CIO100 jury was led by Professor Louis Fourie, the former VC at the Western Cape Peninsula University of Technology in South Africa. URA was also recognised as one of the most innovative organisations in the region.

He has also held other key roles, such as the Chairman URA FC, the tax body’s first division soccer team, since 2017 and a member of the National Information Security Advisory Group since 2015 amongst other roles.

He holds a Master of Science, Computer Science (with a distinction) degree from the National University of Science and Technology, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and an honours Bachelors of Statistics and Applied Economics from Makerere University.  

Matthew is a lawyer by training and an Advocate of the High Court. He is also a Notary Public and Commissioner for Oaths. He has practiced law in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.

He joined Uganda Revenue Authority as a Litigation Officer in the Legal Services & Board Affairs Department-the Revenue body’s in-house law firm. Up until his most recent appointment as Ag. Commissioner Tax Investigations, he rose through the ranks of Supervisor Litigation and then Manager VAT & Income tax Litigation. In 2015, he was appointed Assistant Commissioner/Executive Assistant to the Commissioner-General.  In 2017, he was transferred to the Tax Investigations Department as Assistant Commissioner responsible for Tax Investigations.

 He has 14 years of tax experience, 5 of which have been at executive level.

He was part of the team that successfully litigated the Heritage Oil & Gas tax case both in Uganda and in the United Kingdom and other high profile tax litigations including serving as a Public Prosecutor.

He is the brain child of the ATAF Legal Counsel Network a forum that brings together the in-house legal counsels of Revenue Authorities in Africa. He is a member of the Africa Tax Administration (ATAF) Technical Committee on Exchange of Information that is charged with fostering tax transparency on the African Continent.

He has represented Uganda at several tax related engagements at international and regional level.

He was recognized as Employee of the year while in the Legal Department and featured in Uganda’s Top 40 under 40 men survey in 2016 by the New Vision newspaper.

He holds a Masters of Law in Oil and Gas from the Robert Gordon University-Aberdeen; Scotland.  He also holds a Post graduate Diploma in Legal Practice and a   Bachelor’s degree in Law. He has lectured in law and has served on a number of Boards in the capacity of Board Chair & member and has represented the same at International levels.

He is a member of Uganda Law Society, East African Law Society and the International Association of Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysts (IALEIA). He is a Certified Balanced Scorecard Practitioner and a John C. Maxwell Academy Student.